“If I’m going down, it will be doing what God built me to do.” – Simon

We can strive and work, trying to figure things out on our own. On the best days, we feel successful and pride ourselves in our accomplishments. When things don’t go our way and we get desperate, we start compromising our dignity, our values, and our faith. Anything to get ahead. Anything to survive.

God doesn’t want us to live like this. But more often than not, He allows us to feel the emptiness and rock-bottom desperation so He can fill our boats and prove to us that He is the one to provide for all our needs.

Episode 4 opens with the crisis of a self-sufficient fisherman who is up to his neck in trouble. His brother excitedly announces the arrival of the Messiah, but he is too caught up in his own concerns to listen. So the call of Simon had to begin with a miracle to catch his attention. Does it always happen this dramatically? No. For every heart who has turned to Jesus, there was some kind of divine encounter with truth, love, or mercy. In many cases, it was a gentle revelation; for others, it was a miraculous collision between Heaven and earth.

But no matter the experience, it is always enough to shake us up out of our disillusionment and launch us into a journey of conversion and transformation. When status quo isn’t good enough anymore…when the ache is too heavy to bear…when the darkness is darker than night…Jesus caters His calling unique to us as individuals. It is so personalized that His voice penetrates our souls in a way so different from every other person in all of history.

How we respond to that call is our gift back to Him for the freedom He has secured for us both in this world and in eternity. And what joy it is to offer Him our “fiat” as we live with faith…with hope…with love. Out of the wealth we’ve inherited through our union with God, we give to our brothers and sisters through our prayers, acts of charity, and fight for justice.

And when it gets tough because we forget what He has done, may we return to the Gospels to remind us of His wonders and once again believe that we have a God who saves.
#thechosentvseries #thechosen #getusedtodifferent